Chapter 4: The Encounter
Chapter 4: The Encounter
Staring up at the scowl of the stranger, Amanda swallowed, realizing just how small she was in comparison to him. “I’ll…”
“Yell some more?” he scoffed. “Stomp your little boots?”
“Call the cops,” she bluffed. She didn’t even have service in town.
“And say what? Someone had meat in their backpack and disappeared?”
She looked at how long his legs were. If he decided to take off, he could definitely outrun her. Never mind that she didn’t relish running on the best of days, let alone on an icy sidewalk. It was time to switch tactics. Crossing her arms, she asked, “What could you possibly even need that much meat for?”
“You don’t seem the type to eat game,” he said. “What do you need it for?”
She scowled. “If you must know, it’s for… some. Puppies. I saw.”
He paused. Almost instantly, his anger seemed to melt away. “Puppies.”
“Yes,” she hedged.
“Shouldn’t you be feeding them dog food?”
“Well… they’re not mine. And besides, meat is good for w… dogs.”
“If they’re not yours, what business do you have feeding them?” he hedged. “Are you trying to catch them?”
“What? No. No, they just… Well, they looked hungry is all.” She shook her head. “This isn’t what we’re talking about. You stole!”
“You don’t know that.” He shrugged, though strangely, the fight seemed to have left him entirely. “You should worry about your own crimes. Feeding wildlife could get you in serious trouble.”
“I never said–”
He turned sharply on his heel and started away. “Keep your nose out of other people’s business. You don’t want to wander into any trouble.”
“Is that a threat?” she called to his back.
He waved, casually. “Just look out for yourself, sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart?” she raged. “You! You make bad choices!”
His far-off laugh was the only reply.
Amanda glared at his retreating form. Not only had she failed to stop him, but he’d completely turned around her line of questioning and gotten away with the final word. Who did he think he was?
“The nerve,” she muttered, climbing up into the truck. She slammed the door hard and held the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip as she backed out of her parking space and took back to the road.
The cashier hadn’t seemed to know him, so with any luck, she’d never run into him again.
When she got back to the house, she quickly swapped her phone case out for the new one, cringing at the bulky gray exterior. With that out of the way, she braved the snowy backyard with her bear spray and the elk.
She walked out a good distance before unwrapping a portion of the meat and leaving it in the snow. Even as she did it, she rolled her eyes at what a stupid idea it was. It would be just her luck that she’d wake up to a bear pawing at the backdoor looking for more. But the thought of the little wolf pups starving was unignorable.
Most of the rest of the day was spent painting. She worked on backgrounds for Little Red until her back ached, and her hand hurt from working too long. She threw herself down on the couch with a glass of red wine, courtesy of Demetri, and opened up her laptop.
Leeanne had messaged her an hour ago, so she quickly started a video call.
It only took a moment before Leeanne answered.
“Manda,” she answered with a smile. “How’s the snow?”
“Never mind the snow,” Amanda said. “I cannot believe the nerve of some people.”
Leeanne blinked. “I’m… sorry?”
“I met this guy in town. Tall, dark, and handsome type. And he was so rude!”
“You’re on a winter retreat in Demetri’s mansion and the first thing you call to tell me about is some rude stranger?”
“Well. Okay, yeah, it’s beautiful out here.” She held up her laptop and spun it around slowly to show off the grand living room. “There. But this guy! He stole a bunch of meat from the general store, and he had the nerve to tell me off when I confronted him about it!”
“Why didn’t you just tell the cashier?”
“Because! I…” Well, actually, why hadn’t she? “He would have gotten away.”
“So you stopped him?”
“Well, no.” She chewed angrily on her bottom lip. “He called me sweetheart.”
Leeanne pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Okay. So a petty thief flirted with you.”
“He wasn’t. He. He was belittling me.”
Leeanne’s cat, Raymond, jumped up into the frame and instantly head-butted Leeanne’s hand until he was scratched behind the ear. “It sounds a little flirty,” she said meekly.
“Not even. If anyone’s going to be flirting, I want it to be the cute neighbor.”
“Oh, a love triangle,” she sighed dreamily.
“Leeanne! Focus. The other guy is a jerk!”
She nodded. “Sure, sure.”
“Todd is much nicer.”
“Did Todd call you sweetheart?”
Amanda glared.
Leeanne blushed, half-hiding behind her cat. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s fine,” Amanda sighed. “Never mind about that. How’s the writing coming along?”
She cringed.
“Right.”
“And the art?”
Amanda smiled. “Great, for once. Lots of inspiration out here. I’ve even started a painting of the wolf that’s been hanging around.” She paused. “Don’t tell Demetri, if it comes up.”
“There’s a wolf?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’m being careful.” She thought about the meat. “Ish.”
Leeanne frowned. “Ish?”
“He’s got two babies with him, Lee! There’s so cute, but they’re starving out there. I… may have left a little food. But pretty far from the house, and I’m carrying bear spray now, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Baby wolves,” she keened. “How cute!”
“Cute enough to eat my face off, I’m sure,” she snorted. “But yeah. Think we can work them into Little Red somewhere?”
“Sounds like it would make the villain too sympathetic,” she said. “Unless.”
Amanda grinned. “Unless?”
They spent hours going over the children’s book and eventually dissolved into aimless chatting. Amanda made dinner and had a few refills of her wine glass. Despite having hoped that this trip to the mountains would mean some much-needed alone time to think, she couldn’t help but wish that Leeanne was there with her. She knew she was bound to get lonely, and at some point during their chat, she pulled up a dating app to swipe aimlessly through, showing pictures off to Lee, who usually scrunched up her nose in distaste. She was more the ‘soft boy’ type, while Amanda had to admit it was fun to see so many rugged mountain men in her area.
“I wonder if your stranger has a profile on there.” Leeanne was half-sitting-half-lying in her chair, playing a video game in the background. “He sounds rugged.”
“More like rude,” Amanda snorted. Though she had to wonder; what would she do if he came up? He was handsome, of that there was no question. “He’d probably just insult me.”
“Sweetheart isn’t an insult,” Leeanne objected softly. Blushing, she sank a little further into her chair, half-covering her face. “It’s nice. I want someone to call me sweetheart.”
“While you’re yelling at them? Wait, you’ve never yelled before.”
“I have, too!” she defended, sitting back up. She thought for a moment. “Probably.”
“Sure,” Amanda snorted. Catching sight of the time, she sighed. “I should probably get to bed. Oh, and check to see if the snack I set out for the pups is gone. I haven’t really been looking outside.” Not that there was much to see–without city light pollution, it was pitch-black outside. “God, you should see the stars out here.”
“Paint them for me,” Lee shrugged. “I’ll be up for a while if you need anything. This game is addictive. Look how cute my village is!”
Amanda laughed. “Very cute, Lee. Night.”
“Night, ‘Manda.”
She signed off and then pulled on her coat and boots. The moon was just bright enough to see by, so she crunched a path through the snow to the spot where she’d left the offering for the wolves. She grinned when she saw it was gone, and the tell-tale pawprints left in its place.
She turned back to the house. She’d put more food out for them in the morning.
The sound of a twig breaking on the ground gave her pause.
Her first instinct was to yell that she had mace, but then she calmed, reminding herself that there weren’t any people around for miles. That thought, though, spurned on a scarier one; what animals were out in the middle of the night?
God, she hadn’t even brought the gun out with her like she was supposed to.
Slowly, Amanda forced herself to move forward, refusing to look behind her. If she saw a pair of eyes glowing in the dark, or any hint of fur or other sign of a four-legged beastie, she would lose her cool and start running. She’d seen the posters in town saying what to do in case of a bear encounter, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember anything other than that she wasn’t supposed to run.
Her hand plunged into her pocket as she remembered the bear spray. She fumbled to pull the cap off and then held it at her side, walking slowly forward.
The bushes rustled on her left. She froze completely, heart pounding hard. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of fur. Internally, she was praying for it to be the wolf pups, but the size of the shape hovering in her peripheral told her not to get her hopes up.
A low rumbling growl started up to her left.
She ran.
The wolf lunged, snapping its teeth into the back of her jacket. A scream ripped through her throat as she was flung to the ground. Blindly, she sprayed the mace behind her. The wolf yelped and released her just long enough for her to scramble to her feet.
The door was only a few yards away, the light of the house streaming out through the glass in the promise of safety. Frantic tears blurred her gaze. She slipped on a patch of ice, landing roughly on her hands and knees. She looked back and screamed as the wolf lunged at her.